I Want to Live!
Encyclopedia
I Want to Live! is a 1958 film noir
produced by Walter Wanger
and directed by Robert Wise
which tells the heavily fictionalized story of a woman, Barbara Graham
, convicted of murder and facing execution. It stars Susan Hayward
as Graham, and also features Simon Oakland
, Stafford Repp
, and Theodore Bikel
. The movie was adapted from letters written by Graham and newspaper articles written by Pulitzer Prize
-winning journalist Ed Montgomery.
The film earned Hayward a Best Actress Oscar
at the 31st Academy Awards
.
, and works luring men into fixed card games.
At one point, she attempts to go straight but marries the "wrong man," and has a child.
When her life falls apart, she returns to her former professions and gets involved in a murder. She claims her innocence, but is convicted and executed.
, who later became the host of Turner Classic Movies
, interviewed Susan Hayward and asked whether or not she believed Barbara Graham had been innocent. According to Osborne, the actress seemed hesitant to answer at first, but ultimately admitted that her research on the evidence and letters in the case led her to believe that the woman she played in the movie was probably guilty.
gave the film a favorable review: "There is no attempt to gloss the character of Barbara Graham, only an effort to understand it through some fine irony and pathos. She had no hesitation about indulging in any form of crime or vice that promised excitement on her own, rather mean, terms... Hayward brings off this complex characterization. Simon Oakland, as Montgomery, who first crucified Barbara Graham in print and then attempted to undo what he had done, underplays his role with assurance.
Film critic Bosley Crowther
liked the film and wrote, "...Miss Hayward plays it superbly, under the consistently sharp direction of Robert Wise, who has shown here a stunning mastery of the staccato realistic style. From a loose and wise-cracking B-girl she moves onto levels of cold disdain and then plunges down to depths of terror and bleak surrender as she reaches the end. Except that the role does not present us a precisely pretty character, its performance merits for Miss Hayward the most respectful applause."
Gene Blake, the reporter who covered the actual murder trial for the Los Angeles Daily Mirror, called the movie "a dramatic and eloquent piece of propaganda for the abolition of the death penalty."
In 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that eleven out of eleven reviews of the film were positive.
Wins
Nominations
's, contained the film score
; the other, Gerry Mulligan
's, included numerous Mandel-written themes. Allmusic calls Mandel's album "one of the best jazz-inspired soundtracks around" and notes that Mulligan's album "features six themes from the movie (all composed by Johnny Mandel) performed by the same musicians, who this time around get an opportunity to really stretch out." By March 1959, Billboard
noted that the popularity of the film and of Mandel's and Mulligan's albums "prompted a rush of jazz film scores", and cited the signing of Duke Ellington
to do the score for that year's Anatomy of a Murder
, the release of The Five Pennies
(a biopic about the jazz band leader Red Nichols
), and a 1960 documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day
, .
. It featured Lindsay Wagner
, Martin Balsam
, Pamela Reed
, Harry Dean Stanton
, Dana Elcar
, Ellen Geer
, Robert Ginty
and Barry Primus
.
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
produced by Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
and directed by Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
which tells the heavily fictionalized story of a woman, Barbara Graham
Barbara Graham
Barbara Graham was an American criminal and convicted murderess. She was executed in the gas chamber on the same day as two convicted accomplices, Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins. Nicknamed "Bloody Babs" by the press, Graham was the third woman in California to die by gas.-Early life:Graham was born...
, convicted of murder and facing execution. It stars Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
as Graham, and also features Simon Oakland
Simon Oakland
Simon Oakland was an American actor of stage, screen, and television.-Early life and career:Oakland was born in Brooklyn, New York City. He began his performing arts career as a musician . He began his acting career in the late 1940s...
, Stafford Repp
Stafford Repp
Stafford Alois Repp was an American actor best known for his role as Chief O'Hara on the Batman television series.-Early life:...
, and Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
. The movie was adapted from letters written by Graham and newspaper articles written by Pulitzer Prize
1951 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**The Miami Herald and the Brooklyn Eagle, for their crime reporting during the year.*Local Reporting:** Edward S...
-winning journalist Ed Montgomery.
The film earned Hayward a Best Actress Oscar
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
at the 31st Academy Awards
31st Academy Awards
The telecast of the 31st Academy Awards is among the most infamous. The show’s producer Jerry Wald started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time. Unfortunately, he cut too much material and the ceremony ended 20 minutes early, leaving Jerry Lewis to attempt to fill in the time...
.
Plot
The film tells the story of the life and execution of Barbara Graham (Hayward) a prostitute, drug addict, and convicted perjurer. Graham is the product of a broken homeBroken Home
Broken home is a term used to describe a household, usually in reference to parenting, in which the family unit does not properly function according to accepted societal norms. This household might suffer from domestic violence, a dissolved marriage, drug abuse, or anything else that interferes...
, and works luring men into fixed card games.
At one point, she attempts to go straight but marries the "wrong man," and has a child.
When her life falls apart, she returns to her former professions and gets involved in a murder. She claims her innocence, but is convicted and executed.
Cast
The cast includes:- Susan HaywardSusan HaywardSusan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
as Barbara GrahamBarbara GrahamBarbara Graham was an American criminal and convicted murderess. She was executed in the gas chamber on the same day as two convicted accomplices, Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins. Nicknamed "Bloody Babs" by the press, Graham was the third woman in California to die by gas.-Early life:Graham was born... - Simon OaklandSimon OaklandSimon Oakland was an American actor of stage, screen, and television.-Early life and career:Oakland was born in Brooklyn, New York City. He began his performing arts career as a musician . He began his acting career in the late 1940s...
as Edward S. "Ed" Montgomery - Virginia Vincent as Peg
- Theodore BikelTheodore BikelTheodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
as Carl G.G. Palmberg - Wesley LauWesley LauWesley Lau was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Wesley Lau was born and raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin...
as Henry L. Graham - Philip Coolidge as Emmett Perkins
- Lou Krugman as John R. "Jack" Santo
- James PhilbrookJames PhilbrookJames Philbrook was an American actor who appeared in supporting roles in three short-lived television series between 1959 and 1963: The Islanders on ABC and The Investigators and The New Loretta Young Show, both on CBS...
as Bruce King - Bartlett Robinson as District Attorney Milton
- Gage ClarkeGage ClarkeGage Clarke was an American character actor best known for his role as the principal in Mr. Peepers. His other work consisted largely one-shot appearances in television series such as seven major supporting roles as different characters in Maverick, twelve roles in Gunsmoke Gage Clarke (March 3,...
as Attorney Richard G. Tibrow - Joe De SantisJoe De SantisJoseph Vito DeSantis was an American radio, television, movie and theatrical actor and sculptor.-Biography:Joe DeSantis was born Joseph Vito Marcello DeSantis to Italian immigrant parents in New York City...
as Al Matthews - John MarleyJohn MarleyJohn Marley was an American actor who was known for his role as Phil Cavalleri in Love Story and as Jack Woltz— the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head of his prized horse in his bed—in The Godfather...
as Father Devers - Raymond BaileyRaymond BaileyRaymond Thomas Bailey was an American actor on the Broadway stage, movies, and television. He is best known for his role as wealthy banker, Milburn Drysdale, in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies....
as San QuentinSan Quentin State PrisonSan Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
Warden - Alice Backes as Barbara, San Quentin Nurse
- Gertrude FlynnGertrude FlynnGertrude Flynn was an American stage, film and television actress. She was married to Asa Bordages, a feature writer for the New York World-Telegram and playwright known for the 1941 play Brooklyn USA.-Theater:Flynn performed on Broadway beginning in the late 1920s...
as San Quentin Matron - Russell ThorsonRussell Thorson----Russell Thorson , was an American actor, perhaps best known for his co- starring role as Det. Lt. Otto Lindstrom in the ABC late '50's hit crime series, The Detectives- Career :Born in Wisconsin, USA...
as San Quentin Sergeant - Dabbs GreerDabbs GreerRobert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American actor who performed many diverse supporting roles in film and television for some fifty years. His distinctive, southern-accented voice fitted well in shows featuring rustic characters, such as westerns...
as the Captain - Stafford ReppStafford ReppStafford Alois Repp was an American actor best known for his role as Chief O'Hara on the Batman television series.-Early life:...
as the Sergeant - Gavin MacLeodGavin MacLeodGavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...
as the Lieutenant (The film was MacLeod's first screen credit.) - George PutnamGeorge PutnamGeorge Putnam may refer to:*George Putnam , Los Angeles, California, television newsman*George D. Putnam , screenwriter*George F. Putnam, American historian...
as Himself
Production notes
A prologue and epilogue contributed to the film by Montgomery characterize the film's content — which largely portrays Graham as innocent of the murder — as factual. But there was substantial evidence of Graham's complicity in the crime which included her taped confession to an undercover officer. Hollywood writer Robert OsborneRobert Osborne
Robert Jolin Osborne is an American actor and film historian best known as the primary host for Turner Classic Movies, and previously a host of The Movie Channel.-Life and career:...
, who later became the host of Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, interviewed Susan Hayward and asked whether or not she believed Barbara Graham had been innocent. According to Osborne, the actress seemed hesitant to answer at first, but ultimately admitted that her research on the evidence and letters in the case led her to believe that the woman she played in the movie was probably guilty.
Critical reception
When the film was released, VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
gave the film a favorable review: "There is no attempt to gloss the character of Barbara Graham, only an effort to understand it through some fine irony and pathos. She had no hesitation about indulging in any form of crime or vice that promised excitement on her own, rather mean, terms... Hayward brings off this complex characterization. Simon Oakland, as Montgomery, who first crucified Barbara Graham in print and then attempted to undo what he had done, underplays his role with assurance.
Film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
liked the film and wrote, "...Miss Hayward plays it superbly, under the consistently sharp direction of Robert Wise, who has shown here a stunning mastery of the staccato realistic style. From a loose and wise-cracking B-girl she moves onto levels of cold disdain and then plunges down to depths of terror and bleak surrender as she reaches the end. Except that the role does not present us a precisely pretty character, its performance merits for Miss Hayward the most respectful applause."
Gene Blake, the reporter who covered the actual murder trial for the Los Angeles Daily Mirror, called the movie "a dramatic and eloquent piece of propaganda for the abolition of the death penalty."
In 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that eleven out of eleven reviews of the film were positive.
Awards
- New York Film Critics Circle AwardsNew York Film Critics Circle AwardsNew York Film Critics' Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. It is considered one of the most important precursors to the Academy Awards....
: NYFCC Award, Best Actress, Susan Hayward; 1958. - Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
: Oscar, Best Actress in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, Susan Hayward; 1959. - Golden Globes: Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama, Susan Hayward; 1959
- Mar del Plata Film FestivalMar del Plata Film FestivalThe Mar del Plata International Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...
: Best Actress, Susan Hayward; 1959.
Nominations
- Directors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
: DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Robert Wise; 1959. - Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Lionel Lindon; Best Director, Robert Wise; Best Film Editing, William Hornbeck; Best Sound, Gordon E. Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD); Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz; 1959.
- Golden Globes: Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture - Drama; Best Motion Picture Director, Robert Wise; 1959.
- Grammy Awards: Grammy, Best Soundtrack Album, Dramatic Picture Score or Original Cast, Johnny Mandel; 1959.
- Writers Guild of AmericaWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
: WGA Award (Screen), Best Written American Drama, Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz; 1959. - British Academy of Film and Television ArtsBritish Academy of Film and Television ArtsThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
: BAFTA Film Award, Best Foreign Actress, Susan Hayward; 1960.
Music
Two phonograph albums were released, both titled I Want to Live. One, Johnny MandelJohnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel is an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, and Shirley Horn.-Life:...
's, contained the film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
; the other, Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
's, included numerous Mandel-written themes. Allmusic calls Mandel's album "one of the best jazz-inspired soundtracks around" and notes that Mulligan's album "features six themes from the movie (all composed by Johnny Mandel) performed by the same musicians, who this time around get an opportunity to really stretch out." By March 1959, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
noted that the popularity of the film and of Mandel's and Mulligan's albums "prompted a rush of jazz film scores", and cited the signing of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
to do the score for that year's Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver...
, the release of The Five Pennies
The Five Pennies
The Five Pennies was a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as cornet player and bandleader Red Nichols. Other cast members included Barbara Bel Geddes, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld...
(a biopic about the jazz band leader Red Nichols
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...
), and a 1960 documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day
Jazz on a Summer's Day
Jazz on a Summer's Day is a documentary film set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, and filmed and directed by noted commercial and fashion photographer Bert Stern and the film director Aram Avakian , who also edited the movie...
, .
Adaptation
I Want to Live! was remade for television in 19831983 in television
The year 1983 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1983.For the American TV schedule, see: 1983-84 United States network television schedule.-Events:...
. It featured Lindsay Wagner
Lindsay Wagner
Lindsay Jean Wagner is an American actress. She is probably best known for her portrayal of Jaime Sommers in the 1970s television series The Bionic Woman , though she has maintained a lengthy career in a variety of other film and television productions since.-Early life:Wagner was born in Los...
, Martin Balsam
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
, Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Ruth Powers in various episodes of TV's The Simpsons, as Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic partner in the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop and as the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho...
, Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
, Dana Elcar
Dana Elcar
Dana Elcar was an American television and movie character actor. Although he appeared in about 40 films, his most memorable role was on the 1980s and 1990s television series MacGyver as Peter Thornton, an administrator working for the Phoenix Foundation...
, Ellen Geer
Ellen Geer
Ellen Ware Geer is an American actress, professor, screenwriter, film director and theatre director.-Personal life:Geer was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of actors Herta Ware and Will Geer. She is currently married to children's musician Peter Alsop, and was previously married to...
, Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty was an American movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.-Early life:...
and Barry Primus
Barry Primus
Barry Primus is an American television and film actor.Primus is primarily an actor, but has also doubled and tripled as writer and director. He worked on stage for the first decade of his career. He gained some experience on TV in shows like The Defenders, East Side/West Side and The Virginian...
.
External links
- I Want to Live! film trailer at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Foster, Teree E. "I WANT TO LIVE! FEDERAL JUDICIAL VALUES IN DEATH PENALTY CASES: PRESERVATION OF RIGHTS OR PUNCTUALITY OF EXECUTION?" Oklahoma City University Law Review at the Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. Volume 22, Number 1. 1997.